Russian monitor Koldun

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Koldun, in the late 1870s or early 1880s
History
Russian Empire
NameKoldun (Колдун)
NamesakeSorcerer
Ordered23 March 1863[Note 1]
BuilderCockerill, Belgium
Cost1,237,000 rubles
Laid down9 December 1863
Launched8 May 1864
In service1865
Out of service6 July 1900
ReclassifiedAs coastal defense ship, 13 February 1892
Stricken17 August 1900
FateConverted into a coal barge, 1903, and scrapped around 1918
General characteristics
Class and typeUragan-class monitor
Displacement1,500–1,600 long tons (1,524–1,626 t)
Length201 ft (61.3 m)
Beam46 ft (14.0 m)
Draft10.16–10.84 ft (3.1–3.3 m)
Installed power
  • 340–500 ihp (254–373 kW)
  • 2 rectangular Morton
    boilers
Propulsion1 shaft, 1 × 2-cylinder horizontal direct-acting steam engine
Speed6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph)
Range1,440 nmi (2,670 km; 1,660 mi) at 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph)
Complement96–110
Armament
  • 1865: 2 × 9 in (229 mm) smoothbore guns
  • 1868: 2 × 15 in (381 mm) smoothbore Rodman guns
  • 1873: 2 × 9 in (229 mm)
    rifled
    guns
Armor

Koldun (

Navy List, converted into a coal barge in 1903 and renamed Barzha No. 324. Abandoned by the Soviets in Finland in 1918, the ship was later scrapped
by the Finns.

Description

Koldun was 201 feet (61.3 m) long overall, with a beam of 46 feet (14.0 m) and a draft of 10.16–10.84 feet (3.1–3.3 m). She displaced 1,500–1,600 long tons (1,500–1,600 t), and her crew numbered eight officers and 88 enlisted men in 1865. They numbered 10 officers and 100 crewmen in 1877.[1]

The ship was fitted with a two-cylinder, horizontal

boilers.[3] Specific information on the output of the ship's engine has not survived, but it ranged between 340–500 indicated horsepower (254–373 kW) for all the ships of this class. During Koldun's sea trials on 21 July 1864, she reached a maximum speed of 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph). The ship carried a maximum of 190 long tons (190 t) of coal, which gave her a theoretical endurance of 1,440 nmi (2,670 km; 1,660 mi) at 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph).[4]

Koldun was designed to be armed with a pair of 9-inch (229 mm) smoothbore muzzle-loading guns purchased from Krupp of Germany and rifled in Russia, but the rifling project was seriously delayed and the ship was completed with nine-inch smoothbores. These lacked the penetration power necessary to deal with ironclads and they were replaced by license-built 15-inch (380 mm) smoothbore muzzle-loading Rodman guns in 1867–68. The Rodman guns were replaced around 1876 with the originally intended nine-inch rifled guns.[5]

All of the wrought-iron armor that was used in the Uragan-class monitors was in 1-inch (25 mm) plates, just as in the Passaic-class ships. The side of the ship was entirely covered with three to five layers of armor plates, of which the three innermost plates extended 42 inches (1.1 m) below the

pilothouse above it was protected by eleven layers of armor. The conning tower armor was 11 inches (279 mm) thick. Curved plates six layers thick protected the base of the funnel up to a height of 7 feet (2.1 m) above the deck. Unlike their predecessors, the Uragans were built without deck armor to save weight, but Koldun's deck was reinforced by the addition of 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) armor plates after completion.[6]

Construction and career

Construction of Koldun began on 9 November 1863 by the Belgian firm of

General Admiral Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich.[7]

Sometime after Koldun was completed, an armored ring, 5 inches (127 mm) thick and 15 inches (381 mm) tall, was fitted around the base of the turret to prevent splinters from jamming it. Later, an armored, outward-curving

gun ports and one on each side of the turret, mounted a light gun, probably a 1.75-inch (44 mm) Engstrem gun, for defense against torpedo boats. A fourth gun was mounted on a platform aft of the funnel when a hurricane deck was built between the funnel and the turret, also probably during the 1870s.[8]

Little is known about the ship's career other than that she was

holds.[9] She was redesignated as Barzha No. 31, Barzha No. 50 and, in 1914, Barzha No. 323. The ship was abandoned by the Soviets when they were forced to withdraw from Finland in April 1918 according to the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and was later scrapped by the Finns.[10]

Notes

  1. ^ All dates used in this article are New Style.

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b McLaughlin, p. 103
  2. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 106–07
  3. ^ Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 175
  4. ^ McLaughlin, p. 107
  5. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 104–05
  6. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 105–06
  7. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 100, 104, 109
  8. ^ McLaughlin, p. 108
  9. ^ McLaughlin, p. 109
  10. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 109–10

References

  • Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press.
    ISBN 0-8317-0302-4
    .
  • McLaughlin, Stephen (2012). "Russia's American Monitors: The Uragan Class". In John Jordan (ed.). Warship 2012. London: Conway. pp. 98–112.
    ISBN 978-1-84486-156-9
    .
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